Teaching English for Maritime Students PDF

Preview

Summary

Teaching English for Maritime Students Mr. Edin Brow Asst. Prof & Head, Department of English Agni College of Technology Chennai India Abstract: Communication plays a vital role for mariners at sea and ashore obviously for ensuring safe, efficient and profitable ship operation and acquiring the ...

Description

Teaching English for Maritime Students Mr. Edin Brow Asst. Prof & Head, Department of English Agni College of Technology Chennai India

Abstract:

Communication plays a vital role for mariners at sea and ashore obviously for ensuring safe, efficient and profitable ship operation and acquiring the appropriate skills and knowledge to communicate effectively and efficiently not only in the maritime profession, but also in other fields of endeavor. The aim to produce teaching materials is the basic need to help the mariners acquire effective communicative competency. The reason for this urgent need is that approximately one third of accidents at sea are caused by an insufficient command of Maritime English. There is a need for the mariners to enhance their competency in communication. An eco-friendly environment to the mariners will help them enhance their competency in communication. The intention to use the exhaustive materials focus mainly on the mariner’s basic four skills namely, listening, speaking, reading and writing. The present paper discusses about the new ideas to introduce, the innovative approach to the existing general English syllabus and produce a more learner-friendly system for the mariners for easy communication and comfortable comprehension. Key Words: Effective communicative competency, Maritime English, ESP, innovative approach.

The world of English language teaching and learning is undergoing a not so quiet revolution with the impact of digital media in the teaching/learning process becoming less an www.ijellh.com

399

exception and more the norm. Blended learning allows students to continue their exposure to and practice of a language whether they be at home/work/outside the city or at sea. Students are no longer bound only to the face to face model of teaching but can experience a wide range of language exposures and practice targeted to the area of specialty and flexible enough to be delivered through a variety of models. With the existence of multi-nationalities on board ships and the domination of English as a lingua franca, it has become highly imperative for seafarers to have a good command of this widely spoken language Maritime English is a branch of ESP (English for Specific Purpose) and has its unique characteristics, which combines professional knowledge with English knowledge.

For

example, more professional phrases, and often passive voice used in the text, and more long and complicate sentences used in the context, etc. The course of Maritime English aims to provide awareness to trainees of their responsibilities to promote understanding and camaraderie on board vessel and contribute to maritime safety. Therefore, communication is the core of learning maritime English and the objective is that the trainees will communicate effectively using the English language in the maritime profession. Marine English covers many spheres, geographic navigation, celestial navigation, navigation equipments, meteorology, cargo stowage, marine law and regulation, ship handling, marine communication and so on. There are so many vocabulary and terms in each of above-said courses, their theory and principle are different. It requires a long time to have a good command of them. For most of the English teacher have no so much time to study all of them. It does not mean that the English teacher do not want to command it. It was tedious tasks to create interest among students and to give them a heavy impression without professional knowledge, without cases, without incidents and all of them require a long time study and sea experiences. But, many professional teacher could give students most of abovesaid knowledge for they had been laid a solid foundation on English, had now worked on board for a few years and experienced a lot at sea, so it is not hard for them to help the students reading professional materials. Maritime English is to a great extent restricted to IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases, which builds on a basic knowledge of English and has been drafted in a simplified version of maritime English. A multitude of new methodologies have been explored and discussed in recent years in an attempt to approach the training and testing the proficiency of maritime English that meets the international standards laid out in STCW. Maritime English www.ijellh.com

400

is to a great extent restricted to IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases, which builds on a basic knowledge of English and has been drafted in a simplified version of maritime English. A multitude of new methodologies have been explored and discussed in recent years in an attempt to approach the training and testing the proficiency of maritime English that meets the international standards laid out in STCW. The maritime industry, by definition, is international. Yet mariners from all corners of the earth are required to work together, communicate and interact. They are also required to train and be trained. Despite the language barriers, the system works as well as it does for a few reasons - one of them being that the IMO, in 1995, designated one language, English, as the official language for mariners. Building on that, the IMO issued the SMCP (Standard Marine Communication Phrases) to further enhance the ability of mariners from various parts of the world to communicate in a standardized way. Standard English maritime testing, such as MarTEL, has been created and employed to further ensure minimum universal communication proficiency. Knowledge of written and spoken English enhances them to understand charts, nautical publications, meteorological information and messages concerning the vessel’s safety and operation and the requirement to communicate with other vessels, VTS stations and multinational seafarers’ crew, and to use the IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP). The IMO SMCP builds on a basic knowledge of English and has been drafted in a simplified version of Maritime English. Modern Maritime English teachers must be able to make well-grounded choices from a host of teaching materials available all over the world today in order to select the most appropriate course book, software or any materials or source. Today the ability to communicate in English in the highly competitive world is the most valuable asset for our students. The overall objective of teaching Maritime English (ME) is development of the students’ English communication skills in the areas of speaking, listening, reading and writing. However, in many students' minds communication means only interaction between the speaker and the listener. Teaching English at maritime universities and nautical colleges involves not only teaching the language and the sea-related terminology but also making the students aware of the cross-cultural issues and problems which they may encounter in their work on board ships. www.ijellh.com

401

Communication failures between crew members, ship to ship, or ship to shore are no doubtful widespread. In a recognizable percentage of rather most maritime accidents, the cause has been related to non-usage of a single professional language on board ships. Ambiguity of instructions given to passengers in emergency situations, or in exchanging crucial information in a certain Maritime incident may result in a misunderstanding situation, leading definitely to accidents, loss of life, and property. Current manning compositions and communication innovations contributed to the escalation of the problem. Maritime English training on board, via computerized training either via pre-assembled training programs or via distance learning methodologies, is the slaver for the escalating maritime causality rate by recommending training and technical solutions. The importance of maritime English, the language of the sea, as the fundamental of all communications between ship and shore members, and the needs of sufficient English language skills (on board ships, shipping companies members, and maritime instructors) that plays an important role in the development of safety and security on board merchant ships. On board vessels, seafarers are bound to deal with crew members of diverse nationalities and encounter different forms of situations where they need to have good listening skills. In addition, any kind of miscommunication at sea may endanger lives. Maritime English is put in the working environment. It reveals how the intrinsic cultural background of seafarers, as well as the methodologies involved in language teaching which consequently shape it affect the communication among crew members and the understanding of the common working language on board. On the other hand, the onboard training of our students has come in the aid of identifying the features of the challenges they face during their onboard training. Such challenges are the result of a multicultural crew dynamics made up of different people speaking different languages.

www.ijellh.com

402

References: 1. Kassim, H., Ali, F., English communicative events and skills needed at the workplace: Feedback from the industry, English for Specific Purposes, Vol. 29, 2010. Print. 2. Akdogan, Refik ,English for the Merchant Marine, 2nd edition, Baski, 2016. Print.

www.ijellh.com

403...